How to Write a Great Press Release

For those of you who do not know what a press release is, it is basically a riveting news story written by a public relations professional which is then forwarded to targeted members of media. The goal of a press release is to grab the interest of a journalist or publicist hoping that they will promote and publish your news story.

Now how to write a press release. It is always important to write a press release in third person, not referring to anything as I or We. This will make you sound biased. The best and most popular way to lay your press release out is to start with the company name at the top and the contact details of who is writing the press release on the left of the page, followed by an eye catching head line or title that will stand out, just like news paper headlines.

All in upper case is advised too. This will catch your reader’s attention.

Then a subtitle underneath in upper and lower case, the subtitle is equally important as the headline as it has to sound interesting and will hook your readers once you had their attention from the headline.

Your lead paragraph has to hold as much information as you possibly can include who, what, where, when and how. If your lead paragraph does not sound interesting and catchy then the reader will most probably not read on and your efforts to creating your headline and subtitle were sure to be a waste of time.

Many reporters take what they need from press releases just by reading the first paragraph.

From this the rest of your press release is simple. Sum up what you have said in your first paragraph but in more detail. Using quotes taken from someone is always good, be sure to ask for this persons consent before doing so.

Below this finish your story with a brief paragraph telling the reader about your company and what it does. This in newspaper slang is known as your ‘boiler plate’. Conclude your boiler plate with contact details.

Key points to remember when writing your press release are, look at it from a journalists perspective, always remember to stay in the third person never ‘I’ or ‘We’. Read plenty of newspaper articles and take notes that will become useful. How is the content laid out?  And finally less is more. Keep it brief it is not an essay.